To The Reader

FIRST – a housekeeping note… I have typed so much that I’ve nearly worn out my keyboard I think. The h is temperamental. And sometimes the T and even the space bar. It now has the tendency to drop extra f’s and h’s at random; even when my fingers aren’t touching the keys at all.…

There is something squirrelly going on with the chronology of Nehemiah in the last 2 chapters. When I read chapter 12, I assumed it happened shortly after the walls were completed. And, indeed it may have, BUT…Chapter 13:1 (“on THAT day”) seems to link the events of chapter 13 to chapter 12 with the dedication…

One tenth – a tithe – of the people were assigned (by lots) to live in Jerusalem. To see more 3D models of Jerusalem based on both the biblical text and archeology, click HERE. (They are really cool.) We must keep in mind that there really isn’t an “Israel” anymore. They are not a free…

After a week of living in their little shelters and hearing the Word of God read aloud and feasting together, the people of Judea gather for one last solemn assembly on the final day, which was very probably (on our calendar) October 31. 🤓 Halloween?! Well there was no such thing as Halloween then. But…

“In October, when the Israelites had settled in their towns… (7:73) “all the people assembled with a unified purpose at the square just inside the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had given for Israel to obey. So on October 8…

VARIOUS OBSERVATIONS Passing the Baton When the project was done, Nehemiah, (the Governor of Judea), appointed 2 men as basically Mayor and President of the City Counsel of Jerusalem. Leadership in the Kingdom is a constant passing of the baton and disseminating of authority. It is not a continual gathering and consolidating of power and…

CHAPTER 5 – THE RICH GET RICHER… I think the first time I became aware of the idea of powerful people oppressing the poor was the animated Disney film Robin Hood. If there was a song that captured the state of things in Nehemiah 5, it would be the one sung by Alan-A-Dale voiced by…

Nehemiah wasn’t a general contractor. And he didn’t arrive in Jerusalem as a former royal bartender turned stone mason. He was appointed acting governor by King Artaxerxes. And he has been a model of leadership ever since; mainly because he led by example. It can be hard to grasp the scope of this wall and…

And just like that, we have come to the end of the Old Testament narrative. Ezra and Nehemiah were originally a single book. Jerome who translated the Bible into Latin was the first to split them in two. Nehemiah is the last book of Old Testament history. It’s been 100 years since Cyrus decreed the…